CINEMA CLASSICS SEMINAR: FITZCARRALDO

$30 for BMFI members, $40 for non-members Instructor: Jennifer Fleeger, Ph.D., Montclair State University Of all the films known for their production lore, Fitzcarraldo (1982) is the wildest. Did a Peruvian chief really volunteer to murder Klaus Kinski for Werner Herzog? Did a crew member actually saw off his own foot? And what happened to Mick Jagger? This seminar chronicles the making of one of cinema’s most fascinating adventure epics while also offering tips for its analysis. We’ll explore Herzog’s career, noting his recurring philosophical questions and his fascination with men living extreme lives. Fitzcarraldo is foremost among these, following a rubber baron who wants to build an opera house in the jungle. The film is famous for its steamship, which both its character and its director insist must be pulled over a mountain. Is the boat a metaphor? What is the meaning of opera? And how closely does the story follow the real-life escapades of Carlos Fitzcarrald? Our understanding of Fitzcarraldo benefits greatly from examining the centrality of opera to the movies, the connection between nature and cinematic spectacle, and the relationship between realism, magic, and dreams. Fitzcarraldo is a film about contradictions, which is why Roger Ebert called it, “One of the great visions of the cinema, and one of the great follies. One would not have been possible without the other.”